The X-Wing Saboteur
by AuraThundera
Summary: Someone is sabotaging the X-Wings of the Rebel fleet. Some bloody crashes and implied sex warrants a PG13 rating.


THE X-WING SABOTEUR  
By Aura Thundera deonii@yahoo.com  
  
Catagory: Rebellion  
Keywords: Luke X-Wing romance  
Rating: PG  
Spoilers:minor hint at Vision of the Future  
  
Dislaimer: I'm not making money off this. George Lucas owns all the   
Star Wars characters. I created Kerryne Malinne, and I'd be perfectly   
happy to disown her. Other authors are free to use Kerri, though I'm  
not sure why you'd want to.  
  
Summary: Someone is sabotaging the X-Wing fighters of the Rebel fleet.  
Or that's what Luke thinks, and he thinks he knows who it is too. Of  
course, it's a little more complicated than that.   
  
Standard fanfiction author's too-long intro ramble follows...  
  
Author's note: I apologize for some of the events in this story.  
I wrote the beginning and outline before seeing The Empire Strikes   
Back and Return of the Jedi, and also before I had read any of the   
books. If I had known what Luke went through in the course of those,   
I would have never written this story. The ending, however, was   
written later (several months later, as a matter of fact), during   
late nights after work with a bottle of Jolt, a Phantom Menace   
soundtrack CD, and a ton of chocolate. The end result? A vision   
that ties in very nicely with the Star Wars canon.  
  
Timeline: almost immediately after ANH; more specifically during the  
evacuation of Yavin Base.  
  
***  
  
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea  
And frolicked in the autmn mist  
In a land called Honna Lee  
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff  
And brought him strings and sealing wax  
And other fancy stuff  
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea  
And frolicked in the autmn mist  
In a land called Honna Lee  
Together they would travel  
On a boat with billowed sail  
And Jackie kept a lookout perched  
On Puff's gigantic tail  
Noble kings and princes  
Would bow where'er they came  
And pirate ships would low'r their flags  
When Puff roared out his name  
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea  
And frolicked in the autmn mist  
In a land called Honna Lee  
Now dragons live forever  
But not so little boys  
Painted wings and magic rings  
Make way for other toys  
One cold day it happened  
Jackie Paper came no more  
And Puff the Magic Dragon  
He ceased his fearless roar.  
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea  
And frolicked in the autmn mist  
In a land called Honna Lee.  
  
***  
  
The X-Wing streaked back toward the base on the moon of Yavin.  
There were no survival pods to be found in the wreckage of the   
Deathstar, and the Rebels' mission was done.  
  
Luke Skywalker relaxed in the cockpit of his fighter. His   
girlfriend, Kerri, was waiting for him back at base. Luke felt   
a warm, familiar tightening in his lower body. He cursed under   
his breath and tried to control himself.  
  
But Kerri's long black hair and blue eyes kept coming back   
into his mind. Kerri had agreed to a date after he got back from  
this mission.  
  
Kerri had caught his eye from the first time he had seen her.   
At the time, she'd been on her back, working at the guts of a Y-Wing.  
Han Solo had walked up to Luke and closed Luke's mouth with his  
finger. Luke hadn't even realized that he'd literally been drooling.  
  
On another occasion, Luke asked another pilot about the   
beauty who fixed the engines. The other pilots had responded to his   
excited queries with a sigh.  
  
"That's Kerri Malinne," one had said. "The Ice Queen of Yavin.   
Don't get your hopes up. She's looking for her true love, and whoever  
he is, compared to him pilots are the scum from the Deathstar's   
toilets."  
  
"I wonder what she'd think of a Jedi Knight?" Luke muttered  
under his breath.  
  
Eventually, Luke decided to try his luck and walked up to Kerri  
one day while they were watching other pilots train. Kerri had noted  
the lightsaber clipped to his belt, and decided to be a little more   
friendly to this one. After all, a boy who believed in the Force was  
less likely to be after nothing but her body.  
  
Kerri had found a good friend in the young pilot who always kept   
the lightsaber by his side. And Luke found a good friend in the   
mechanic who disliked pilots. Their friendship grew, and they became  
very close.  
  
Now, Luke sat in the cockpit of his X-Wing, fidgeting inside his   
sweaty flight suit. He wanted a bath and a clean shirt almost as much  
as he wanted to see Kerri.  
  
At last, the moon loomed up ahead. Luke brought the X-Wing in  
for a clean landing at the North Landing Pad. As he climbed out of   
the cockpit, Kerri ran up and hugged him.  
  
Luke Skywalker's sleek body thrilled Kerri with how strong and   
handsome he was. Luke kissed her softly on the cheek, ashamed to be   
caught in his rumpled flight suit.  
  
"I'll meet you in twenty minutes," Kerri whispered.  
  
"Good. I need a bath," Luke replied.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Luke met Kerri. Kerri giggled and slung a   
leg over her boyfriend's hip. Luke pulled Kerri close to his sleek   
chest and caught her lips in a warm kiss.  
  
As they stood kissing in the isolated corner of the base, a   
disaster was about to take place. Abruptly, a loud explosion echoed   
across the moon, knocking Luke and Kerri off their feet.  
  
Luke began muttering ungentlemanly words as he noted every place  
where his body had contacted the unforgiving stone pavers. Those were   
going to be beautiful bruses tomorrow, all right. Kerri, however,   
didn't mind. When they had fallen, Luke's shirt had opened a little   
more than usual, revealing his lean chest.  
  
Luke picked himself up, and looked out across the jungle. A   
column of black smoke was rising from the area of the South Landing  
Pad.  
  
"Come on!" Kerri cried, and the duo raced down a narrow path   
to the landing pad.  
  
Luke and Kerri came out onto the pavement of the landing pad. In   
the middle lay the smoldering remains of an X-Wing.  
  
"What happened?" Luke asked. "And who?" He noticed some medics,  
carrying away a body on a stretcher, but it was little more than a   
charred skeleton.  
  
"We don't know what happened, he appeared to lose control, but  
was coming in for a near-perfect landing. He would have made it   
too, but the X-Wing exploded just a few meters above the pavment,"   
said a frazzled lieutenant.  
  
"Who?" Kerri asked.  
  
"Merry Keernan," the lieutenant replied.  
  
"Damn," Luke said. He bestowed a vicious kick upon a piece of   
slagged conduit, sending it flying into the jungle.  
  
"Hey!" the lieutenant bellowed at Luke. "I'll thank you not to  
kick evidence!"  
  
"What do I care?" Luke bellowed. "Merry was my friend, and now  
he's dead." He immediately looked sorry about his outburst and   
spoke again. "Sorry."  
  
Kerri clutched Luke's arm. "I'm sorry, Luke. I know Merry was   
one of your best friends."  
  
"Why should you be? Merry's out of your hair now," Luke said   
nastily, still upset. "He was the one you disliked because your   
Ice Queen act wouldn't get him to stop asking you out."  
  
"Luke, I may not have liked him, but I certainly don't want him   
dead!" Kerri cried out. "You know me, Luke. I just needed the right  
boy to love, the one who would be just right and put me at peace with   
the world. And I found him."  
  
"Kerri, I'm sorry. I suspect everyone, and especially that rat   
Koto," Luke said.  
  
"Koto?" Kerri said. "Koto's a harmless mechanic."  
  
"Koto is nuts," Luke said. "He's a frustrated pilot-he lost his  
hand irreplacibly in a crash, and now he's jealous of anyone who can   
still control a starfighter. He went for me once, choked me."  
  
"Oh, Luke!" Kerri said. "I've worked with Koto a long time.   
While he may not love pilots, he does love the fighters. He would  
never destroy one!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Luke said, giving her a quick kiss. "Do you mind if   
I break off our date? I feel like I've been shot down by an Imperial   
star destroyer, and I'd like to rest. I have a training flight  
tomorrow."  
  
"Wait! Luke!" Kerri shouted. "Don't go on that training flight   
tomorrow! Let me and the other mechanics check out the fighters   
before you fly again!"  
  
Luke shook his head and continued to his room.  
  
"Luke, please!" Kerri cried, her face contorting. "Do you want  
to go down in flames too? Do you think I want to watch you go down  
in flames?"  
  
Luke shut the door.  
  
"Luke Skywalker, you can be stubborn as a mule," Kerri said as   
she turned around and walked toward the mechanics' barracks.  
  
The next morning, Luke climbed into an X-Wing. He sat ready for   
the high speed search and destroy practice.  
  
As he lifted off, Luke noticed a faint rumbling sound in his   
engines, but he assumed he'd simply gotten a cranky older fighter.   
He pulled out of the hangar to contiue with the training mission.  
  
Kerri had been watching the pilots train from a window and   
talking over some strategic locations for a new base with Leia.  
  
And then there was a second blast.  
  
In an instant, both Kerri and Leia took off down a path toward   
the South Launching Pad. They swiftly arrived to view another   
starfighter laying in a pile of twisted, charred parts on the stone   
paving.  
  
"Oh, who is it this time?" Leia cried.  
  
The commander of the training mission spoke."Sorry to have to   
tell you two ladies this, but . . . it's Luke Skywalker."  
  
PART 2  
  
"Dammit, Luke," Leia said, turning toward the wreckage. "Make  
me like you for the fool idealist you are, and then go get yourself   
killed."  
  
Tears stung Kerri's eyes. She hoped against hope that Luke had   
somehow managed to survive the crash.  
  
Two medics were hauling away the remains of the canopy, trying   
to get at what was left of Luke. They pulled a body out of the   
wreckage that was clothed in a charred and bloodied flight suit--Luke   
Skywalker.  
  
Kerri ran to where the medic were strapping Luke to the stretcher.  
Kerri gasped as one of the medics ripped the flight suit off of Luke's   
upper body, revealing burns and bloody gashes. His ash-blonde hair   
was singed and his face scratched.  
  
"Don't die, Luke," Kerri whispered, stroking Luke's bangs out of   
his face. "I love you."  
  
Kerri and Leia were abruptly shoved aside by a medic, who began   
cleaning Luke's wounds.  
  
Later, Kerri was permitted to sit with Luke as he lay in his bed.  
Luke had been heavily sedated to keep him from feeling his many wounds,  
but Kerri held his hand anyway.  
  
Luke lay still without a sign of life except for the slow rise   
and fall of his bandaged chest. He was naked except for the bandages   
and the sheets of his bed, which left him looking pathetic and   
helpless.  
  
Kerri released his hand and began to gently trim away the charred   
ends of Luke's hair. As she worked, soft blonde curls began to frame   
his innocent, round face again.  
  
When she was done, Kerri bent down and bestowed a kiss on Luke's   
still lips. Sadly, she relived the night before, when Luke had   
returned her kisses.  
  
"Luke was probably right," Kerri muttered. "Koto probably did   
this to Luke because Luke Skywalker was the hero Koto could never be!"  
  
Kerri left Luke's bedside and tore off toward the hangar where   
Koto had been scheduled to work that day. She was no longer able   
to bear the sight of Luke's still body.  
  
"Koto?!" Kerri bellowed. "Where are you?"  
  
The little man with his single hand appeared. "What's your   
problem today, Kerri?"  
  
"You know full well, Koto!" Kerri shouted, not caring who heard.   
"You didn't check Luke's fighter like I asked you to. He almost died  
because you didn't check it properly."  
  
"I checked it. There was nothing wrong," Koto said.   
"No one had even touched that fighter in a long time because it always  
ran well."  
  
"Or maybe you wanted Luke Skywalker to die!" Kerri yelled.   
"Because he was what you weren't. Because he was the hero of Yavin!   
You didn't care that he was my boyfriend and I planned to marry him!"  
  
"Whatever you may think," Koto said, shrugging his misshapen   
shoulders, "I did not try to kill Luke. I hold respect for anyone who  
could train as a Jedi, as he does."  
  
"Whatever," Kerri said.  
  
Weeks later, Kerri still sat by Luke's bedside. Now, he had   
nutrients flowing through a needle into one arm and waste flowing out   
through a catheter hidden by the sheet. He still slept, although he   
was no longer sedated and his wounds were nearly healed.  
  
During that time, the Rebel Alliance kept vigil over its hero.   
The wreckage of the X-Wings, both Luke's and Merry's, were pulled to   
pieces. No clues were found.  
  
Late one night, Kerri cried by Luke's bedside. Luke lay, still  
and silent. His bandages were gone, but the catheter and nutrient IV  
remained. His pale skin was covered only by a sheet.  
  
As Kerri cried, one of the medics appeared and began to speak to  
her.  
  
"Kerri, I know this is going to be hard on you...hell, it's hard  
on me too, but I have to say it. We think he may never wake up, and  
even if he does, he may not remember anything," the medic said.  
  
Kerri gasped. She had been clinging to the hope that he would  
wake soon, squeeze her hand. She had dreamed of his baby-blue eyes   
fluttering open and him proposing to her.  
  
"The essential part of Luke Skywalker, Luke's mind and heart,   
they will be gone. It's your decision, because you are the closest   
thing to family that he has," The medic sighed, and continued.   
"You have to decide whether we should let Luke die now, without any  
pain, or let him live, perhaps forever a vegetable, dependent on life  
support."  
  
PART 3  
  
"No," Kerri said. "I must give Luke the chance to return to me."  
  
"Very well then," the medic said, obviously relieved that he would  
not have to pull the plug and kill one of the Rebel Alliance's few   
heroes.  
  
Days passed and Luke still lay deathly still in his bed. As each   
day passed, Kerri grew more distraught, more sure that the medic had   
been right. ~Is Luke dead? Is his mind, the power of the quiet Jedi,   
gone?~ Kerri asked herself. ~Is it right to leave this soulless hunk   
of flesh on support to help it live like a vegetable, the light within  
gone?~  
  
Kerri cried again, sobbing into Luke's caramel-colored hair and   
clutching his limp, saber-callused hand in hers. Eventually, Kerri   
thought she felt Luke's hand move, but she wrote it off to her nerves.  
  
The squeeze at Kerri's hand came again, stronger this time. She   
dropped Luke's hand and looked at him. Slowly, Luke Skywalker's baby   
blue eyes fluttered open.  
  
"Oh Luke!" Kerri cried. "You're awake!" She embraced Luke as he   
sat up.  
  
Luke slowly nuzzled Kerri and kissed her. Kerri returned the kiss,  
reminded of how much she had missed this while he had been out, and   
caressed his bare chest.  
  
"Do you think you could go over to the closet and get me some   
clothing? No offense, but I'd rather not be naked," Luke asked Kerri.  
  
"Hey, I don't mind it," Kerri said teasingly.  
  
Luke playfully shoved her off his bed. "Just get me some   
clothing."  
  
Kerri dashed to the closet and pulled out Luke's old white tunic   
and pants. As she helped Luke slip into the tunic, one of the medics   
came in the door. Immediately, the medic's eyes widened.  
  
"Luke Skywalker? You're awake?" he said.  
  
Luke rolled his blue eyes. "Of course I'm awake. I'm fine, but I   
can't get up."  
  
"You shouldn't be paralyzed..." the medic said.  
  
"I'm not, my legs are just weak. I can't stand," Luke replied.   
"With Kerri's help or a stick to lean on, I should be able to walk."  
  
"Well, first let me remove the catheter," the medic said and   
reached under the sheet. He yanked the catheter free of Luke's body.  
  
Luke bellowed like a wounded Wookie and took a weak swing at the   
medic. Fortunately, Luke's punch missed.  
  
The medic laughed. "Every man who I've seen have a catheter   
removed acts like that." Luke replied by grabbing his pants   
wrathfully and yanking them on. Kerri giggled, because Luke never was   
quite so cute as when he let the whiny and frequently indignant   
Tatooine farmboy come to the surface, like now. She kissed him   
tenderly on the forehead.  
  
"I have to go for my shift in the hangar now," Kerri whispered to   
Luke. "But I'll be back in time to eat dinner with you. They refused   
to exempt me from duty to sit with you."  
  
"And that is just as well," Luke said. "The Rebellion can't afford  
to lose a skilled mechanic to sit with an injured pilot."  
  
In the hangar, Kerri laid on her back, working in the guts of an   
X-Wing. She groped for her socket wrench to tighten down the casing of  
the compressor to the hydraulic system.  
  
Koto pushed the wrench into her hand. "Thanks," Kerri muttered.  
  
Meanwhile, Luke lay in his bed. He'd given up on watching the   
trashy holovids long ago. He'd never had the patience for romantic   
holos anyway. If he wanted romance, he'd take the real thing with   
Kerri. Now he watched the preparations for a test flight of some new   
X-Wings.  
  
Kerri pushed open the door, carrying a large tray of food for   
herself and Luke. Luke made a face and pulled a pillow over his head.  
  
"Come on, Luke, you have to eat," Kerri said, pulling the pillow   
off of Luke's head. "This isn't that bad, it's the same food everyone   
gets."  
  
"Just keep the medics and their nutro-paste garbage away from me,"   
Luke replied. "I want REAL FOOD."  
  
"It is," Kerri said. Using female wiles and a large amount of   
trickery, Kerri managed to get all of the food into Luke.  
  
After Luke managed to finish his dinner, Kerri slipped into the   
bed beside him. Luke slid his arm around her and held her close.  
  
"Do you think you could take me to the landing pad so I could   
watch the training flights?" Luke asked Kerri.  
  
"Sure," Kerri said, slipping Luke's poncho over his shoulders.   
She helped him walk to the nearest landing pad.  
  
Luke smiled as he watched the fighters in the air above. Abruptly,  
one X-Wing peeled off from the tidy squadron and headed for the landing  
pad.  
  
One of the fighter's engines burst into flame as the pilot touched   
down. Luke started forward with a gasp.  
  
"It's Wedge!" Luke cried. "Jump free, Wedge!"  
  
"Sit down, Luke," Kerri said, leading him to a stone bench by the   
side of the landing pad. Behind them, Wedge Antilles leaped clear of   
his burning X-Wing. Crews of mechanics turned firehoses on the X-Wing,  
trying to rescue any evidence.  
  
Wedge dashed up to Luke where he sat on the stone bench. "Glad to  
see you back on your feet, buddy," Wedge said. "We were afraid we'd   
have to organize a funeral for ya."  
  
"I'm too tough for some cowardly saboteur to kill," Luke said,   
with a half-grin.  
  
Kerri shivered abruptly. "Luke, it's getting cold. I'll help you   
back inside."  
  
PART 4  
  
As the days passed, Luke slowly grew better. The Rebels packed up   
their supplies and fleet to move to a new base. Luke hobbled around,   
with the aid of a carved walking stick. His slight, white-clad body   
was a frequent sight around the base.  
  
Among the last to leave Yavin IV were Luke and Kerri, who would   
fly with Han Solo on the Millenium Falcon, by their own choice. Leia   
would have preferred that Luke go on a bigger ship where his fragile   
health could be tended to by a medic. But, although she was not likely  
to ever admit it, Leia trusted Han Solo to get aid to Luke if he   
needed it.  
  
The tortured remains of the three destroyed star fighters were   
loaded aboard transports too.  
  
Luke sat in the main cabin of the Falcon, sleeping with his head   
pillowed on his arms. Kerri sat next to him, holding his hand as he   
slept.  
  
As soon as the battered old Corellian freighter entered hyperspace,   
Han left the cockpit to Chewie and delivered a message to his   
passengers. "Her Highness requests that we stop at Tatooine for some   
sort of conference," Han said. "Tell Luke when he wakes up."  
  
"He'll probably sleep the whole way to Tatooine," Kerri replied,   
gently stroking Luke's blonde head.  
  
Several hours later, a few Rebel landing craft descended around an   
abandoned moisture farm on the topaz-sanded planet. Koto came to the   
hatch of the Millenium Falcon.  
  
"Luke, Captain Solo, the Princess and General Rieekan request your   
presence to discuss the sabotaged X-Wings," he said, "Come with me."  
  
"Luke, let me come with you," Kerri said, helping him to his feet.  
  
"Luke and Han go with me," Koto said. "Not you."  
  
"Well!" Kerri exclaimed. "I was the one who got him here!   
Without me, you would have removed the life support and killed Luke   
long ago!"  
  
Koto walked slowly, matching his pace to Luke's halting steps.   
They eventually came out into a cavernous chamber that had once housed   
immense tanks of water. There, Luke, Leia, Han, Rieekan and some other  
leaders of the Rebellion gathered.  
  
As the meeting went on beneath the sands, Kerri slept in a bunk   
aboard the Falcon. She was wakened by halting footsteps in the   
corridor--Luke's footsteps.  
  
"Luke?" Kerri called to him, sitting up.  
  
"It's me, Kerri," Luke replied. His voice sounded tired. He   
walked over to the bunk she lay on and sat on the edge.  
  
Kerri sighed as Luke embraced her and his strong hands slipped   
into her hair. His lips brushed lightly against hers.  
  
"Will you come with me?" Luke asked her.  
  
Kerri shivered at the feather-light touch of Luke's lips to her   
own. "Of course," she replied.  
  
As Luke led her out of the Falcon, Kerri abruptly realized that he   
was no longer wearing the black shirt and pants he had earlier. Now,   
he wore the flight suit of a Rebel pilot.  
  
"Luke, where are we going?" Kerri asked.  
  
"Come with me," Luke whispered, his face somber. The laughing boy   
hero was mysteriously gone from his face.  
  
Upon entering the cavernous chamber beneath Tatooine's sandy   
surface, Luke left Kerri and went to stand between Leia and Wedge.   
Kerri looked around, unsure of what was happening in the Rebel   
Alliance.  
  
Abruptly, Kerri's hands were grabbed by Han Solo. Han held her   
back and prevented her from joining Luke.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?" Kerri cried, struggling in the   
Corellian's tight grip.  
  
PART 5  
  
"Kerryne Malinne, you stand accused of the murder of Merriman   
Keernan and the attempted murders of Wedge Antilles and Lucas   
Skywalker," Rieekan said.  
  
"What?!" Kerri shouted, twisting her wrists in a desperate attempt   
to free her hands from Han Solo's hold. "You're crazy! Why would I   
try to kill my own boyfriend?"  
  
"An accident," Luke said, his voice cold. "That was why you were   
so concerned and didn't want me to fly. I might have gotten-did get-  
one of your doctored X-Wings."  
  
"Of course I was concerned!" Kerri shouted. "With a madman loose,   
you were a natural target! You were the Hero of Yavin. And I was   
right, they did go for you. But you didn't listen to me! If I would   
have checked the X-Wing you were to have used, you might not have   
crashed!"  
  
"Of course not," Wedge growled. "You would have removed the   
explosives from the hydraulic compressor and disabled the timer."  
  
"You have no evidence to prove that I planted explosives there,"   
Kerri spat. "Luke, how can you let this happen to me? I thought you   
loved me!"  
  
"Because all of the evidence, what little there is, points to   
you," Luke said. "Several of the mechanics saw you working on the   
hydraulic systems of the crashed fighters. And that is where the   
traces of explosives were found."  
  
"You have nothing to back that up," Kerri said, wrenching at Han's   
hands. "It's all circumstantial. Why would I do this?"  
  
"Your hatred of all pilots except for Luke is a well-known fact,"   
Leia spoke now, cool and calm. "You had motive, materials, no alibi,   
and were seen in the right place."  
  
"We find you guilty," Rieekan said. "We cannot afford the loss of   
pilots and equipment that you have caused in your private war. You   
are sentenced to death for the murder of Merriman Keernan."  
  
"How am I to die then?" Kerri asked.  
  
"By blaster. We cannot afford to leave anything for the Imperials   
to find and make use of," Rieekan said.  
  
"Wait! May I speak?" Kerri shouted.  
  
"Speak your piece," Leia said.  
  
"My father was a pilot. He knew the lives of Imperial TIE pilots   
are short, so he did as he pleased. He never was faithful to my   
mother. He often forgot we existed. All he ever did was hurt us.   
Until I met Luke, I had never met a pilot who was any different. They   
deserved to die before they could hurt anyone they way my father hurt   
me and my mother," Kerri said.  
  
Luke turned toward her, tears welling in his blue eyes and hurt in   
his gentle voice. "Why didn't you tell me? I thought you loved me,   
trusted me."  
  
"I just couldn't..." Kerri said.  
  
"Very well," Luke said icily, and turned away.  
  
Han stepped before Kerri and levelled his blaster.  
  
"Can I at least kiss Luke goodbye?" Kerri asked.  
  
"That is up to Luke," Rieekan said.  
  
Luke turned back toward his one-time girlfriend, his love dead in   
his heart. He swallowed hard at the stricken look in her eyes. "I   
will kiss the girl I once loved goobye. I will kiss the woman who   
waited by my bed while I was ill, the one who believed in me. But this  
monster, I will not. In memory of what you were to me, I will kiss   
you, Kerri," he said.  
  
Luke stepped into Kerri's arms, the twin trails of two tears   
marking his face. Kerri pressed herself close, offering her lips for   
a kiss. Luke pressed his warm lips to hers. His caramel-colored hair   
tickled her face.  
  
"Goodbye," Luke whispered. Kerri cried into the curve of his   
neck.  
  
"Commander, I suggest you move," Rieekan said. "Unless you wish   
to join this traitor in death."  
  
Luke shook his head almost imperceptibly and walked away from her.  
  
PART 6  
  
Luke watched sadly as Han squeezed the trigger. Kerri's slight   
body flew backwards as time seemed to distort and slow for Luke. She   
crumpled into a slight heap on the floor. Luke gazed at the body,   
unable to comprehend how all his hopes had seemed to crumble in the   
space of a few hours.  
  
"I can't believe how much she managed to hide from me," Luke   
whispered. "I thought I knew her..."  
  
"We all did, kid," Han said. "We all thought we knew her, that   
she'd finally be happy with you."  
  
"How could I have been so wrong about her?" Luke asked. "Why   
didn't I see all that hatred in her, right under the surface?"  
  
"No one did, Commander," Rieekan spoke now. "She was not a   
suspect until no others appeared. She was an expert at hiding."  
  
"I just wish that there was something I could do," Luke said.   
"Some way to remember the good she did and not the evil."  
  
"There will be a marker placed at her grave here," Leia said.   
"Would you like to write the inscription?"  
  
Luke nodded. He picked up a stylus and a pad and began to write.   
Leia instantly recognized the flowing curves and tendrils of   
traditional Tatooin script rather than the Galactic Standard she had   
always seen Luke use before. However, it did not surprise her that   
Luke could write it.  
  
Leia looked over Luke's shoulder. She had never learned to read   
Tatooin script, so she was relieved when Luke began writing in   
Standard instead.  
  
'Here lies Kerryne Malinne. The first woman I truly loved.' the   
basic script said.  
  
"Would you get them to engrave this on the marker?" Luke asked,   
handing the pad to Leia.  
  
"Yes, I will," she whispered. "Go back to the Falcon and rest,   
Luke."  
  
Luke nodded and started walking slowly to the surface. He looked   
up at the stars that sprinkled the night sky. Constellations   
familiar to him from his childhood beamed down upon Luke. At any   
moment, Luke almost expected to hear his uncle calling to him.  
  
But deep inside, he was no longer the boy who had found adventure   
risking his life in Beggar's Canyon. He had seen pain, seen worlds   
destroyed. He had had his heart broken in the last few minutes.   
His whole universe had changed.  
  
Slowly, Luke turned toward the Millenium Falcon. It seemed safe   
and homelike to him, and Luke realized that the Rebel Alliance was all  
he had left. He had lost everything else.  
  
Luke's hand closed about his father's lightsaber at his hip. He   
had not lost everything. When he sat still and thought quietly, he   
could feel the Force as Ben had taught him.  
  
He walked aboard the battered Corellian freighter. The Falcon was   
all the home he had now, and Han and Leia were all the family he had.   
Slowly, Luke headed for a small cabin where he had bunked when working   
with Han before. He fell asleep in his flight suit after managing to   
remove his boots.  
  
In dreams, Luke was on Yavin again, standing atop one of the   
Massassi temples. A woman, beautiful with firey red hair and vibrant   
green eyes, was in his arms. She kissed his lips gently, then backed   
away from him.  
  
"I will wait for you," she said. "You will know me when the time   
comes."  
  
A tear coursed down Luke's cheek as he awoke. It was more than a   
dream, he knew. And when it was time, there would be a true love   
waiting for him.  
  
The next day, Kerri was quietly buried, with only Luke, Leia and   
Han watching. A small stone marker was placed at the head of the   
grave. The inscription that Luke had written in Tatooin and Standard   
showed clearly in the early morning light.  
  
After Leia and Han had left, Luke knelt at the marker. "Goodbye,   
Kerri," he whispered. "I have to go, but I will remember what we had,   
even though I may love again."  
  
With those words echoing in the still Tatooine afternoon, Luke   
walked away, back toward the Falcon and the Rebels. He never looked   
back.   



End file.
